Naturally occurring polymers with biomedical applications

mesenchymal stem cells

We discussed in an earlier post the application of natural polymers in clinical treatment of osteoarthritis and other injuries to articular cartilage. Those current therapies are all limited to treating small lesions or holes of only a few millimeters across. Material challenges remain when larger, curved areas of cartilage need to be regenerated in joints. Larger scaffold constructs are more difficult to evenly seed with cells, and are also prone to shrinking and changing shape as the cells grow inside…

Damage to joint cartilage from injury or osteoarthritis is challenging to repair because cartilage can’t repair itself. Joint cartilage doesn’t have blood vessels, so it isn’t regularly rejuvenated like other tissues, and there is no way for the body to transport new cells to an injury. Current treatments include microfracture, which breaks the bone under the injury to cause bleeding and presumably introduce new cells to start the healing process, and implanting autologous chondrocytes, also gathered by causing a secondary…